LONGEST FOOTBALL GAME

Philippines, specifically Barotac Nuevo, Iloilo was aiming to set a world record for Playing a straight 35hrs 20minutes of playing football.

A town 30kms northeast of the city of iloilo. was aiming a new Guinness record for playing the longest Football Game equivalent to 35hrs 20 minutes with a total of 9 games and a score of 136 - 133 from the two teams representing Iloilo State College of Fisheries (ISCOF) team and Barotac Nuevo Comprehensive High School (BNCHS) team with their score respectively presented. The game has been played starting last January 16, 2009 at 8:35 am until 8:15p.m. the next day on the Football field at the public plaza of Barotac Nuevo.

“We believed we have set a new world record and the players are happy despite the fatigue,” Duffie Botavara, general secretary of the Barotac Nuevo Football Club and the Iloilo Football Association, said in a telephone interview.

Botavara said the previous record for the longest football game played was 31 hours in Australia. Aside from aiming for the record of the longest game played, Botavara said they also wanted to set the record for the most number of games played continuously.

Cheered by their town-mates, the two teams composed of 18 persons each played nine 90-minute games. Each game has two 45-minute halves with a 10-minute break between halves.

Nine referees working in three shifts officiated the game.

Botavara said because of the duration of the game, they slightly modified the rules and a “floating substitution” format was adopted. This allowed the unlimited substitution of players who returned to the game even after they have been substituted.

Football regulations allow only two substitutions per game and players who have been replaced cannot return to the game.

“We ensured that at any given time, nine to 10 players from each team were on the field while the others rested,” said Botavara.

The players did not sleep and only rested at the players’ quarters where they also ate, said Botavara.

The BNCNHS was composed of players 17 years old and below while the ISCOF players belonged to the collegiate division. Each team had a member of the national team.

“Many wanted to join the game but we had to turn them down because of the limited number of players allowed,” said Botavara.
The organizers of the event will send a video of the game to the Guinness World Records to authenticate and make the new record official.
source: inquirer.net